From 2010 through 2011, the Infant & Young Child Nutrition (IYCN) Project supported Malawi’s Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) to develop community-based nutrition services targeting mothers, infants, and young children, including HIV-positive populations. The project increased understanding of feeding behaviors, supported enhanced national policies, played a key role in shaping the country’s Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) strategy, developed a package of training materials for a new cadre of community nutrition workers, and increased the capacity of community-based workers to improve infant and young child nutrition. We piloted capacity-building activities in Salima District, which will be scaled up nationally to improve the growth, nutritional status, health, and HIV-free survival of infants and young children.
Examined caregivers’ feeding practices
IYCN conducted a joint research project with Bunda College of Agriculture and the World Bank to generate information that can be used to improve infant and young child nutrition activities within Malawi’s existing programs. The study was conducted in two phases: phase one was exploratory, and gathered information about feeding practices from 60 mothers with children 6 through 23 months of age and 18 key informants. In phase two, or the Trials of Improved Practices phase, counselors offered 100 mothers of children 0 through 23 months of age one to three improved feeding practices that they could try for about one week and gathered results from trying those practices.
In a joint study with the World Bank, IYCN identified key infant feeding problems and tested practical solutions to inform new behavior change communication materials for community nutrition workers. Findings revealed that mothers could adopt new, improved practices, such as:
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Tue, 03/11/2014 - 17:27 | engesveenk | Edited by AnnaLartey. | published |
Wed, 03/27/2013 - 16:14 | bloessnerm | Edited by AnnaLartey. | published |
Thu, 12/27/2012 - 01:07 | AnnaLartey | Edited by AnnaLartey. | published |